Atheists least trusted, according to study?

Question

On 30 days, they said a study showed that as far as Americans are concerned, atheists are least trusted after Muslims, recent immigrants and even homosexuals. Is that why so many atheists in this forum lash out at anyone who doesn't share their unbelief?

I see your point zilker. Good one.

Oh yeah...someone mentioned it...I think JasonB - I found it interesting too that they included homosexuals and immigrants in the study. I would be curious to know what groups of people they gave this study to. I'm not saying it's right either way, or that I'm conservative or liberal, I just find the whole phenomenon interesting.

Answer 1

I find it interesting the other least trusted people especially recent immigrants and homosexuals. Muslims makes sense because there is a lot of backlash for 911.

Obviously this study illustrates that trust in this country has to do with how different someone perceive someone else to be.

Answer 2

Anyone can say the do a study but do they do it properly. If not done properly the conclusion is subject to great error. Before buying into any study or poll, I like to see the method used to collect the data. Did they just phone people and ask? If it was merely from a phone poll that is not very accurate at all. Were the only choices given atheists, muslims, immigrants or homosexuals? If one is going to quote a study one should provide the details of it or at least footnote where it came from so people can look for themselves.

Unless I can see how the data is collected I never trust a "study".

Answer 3

When I was a kid (and still a believer) I had an awful conception of atheists, they were the worst kind of human beings in the world. Why did I think that? Simple, I was told so by my parents.

When I was already an atheist I wouldn't recognize it publicly, I thought people wouldn't like me. It took me years to accept it, it was like coming out of the closet as an atheist. Right now some people would go like "No! You can't be!", there is a huge misconceptions about atheism, so, I am not surprised if people from countries of judeo-christian heritage with a huge number of believers wouldn't trust atheists, it's part of the culture, I was part of that culture once.

As some people mentioned before, the way they selected the groups for the test sounds suspicious. But I still wouldn't be surprised about such result, I know that, in my country, people would trust more in a catholic than in an atheist without any kind of a formal research, but it'd be nice to do one just to confirm my hypothesis.

Answer 4

You did not provide a link to the study, so I doubt it really exists. IF there is really such a study, it might not be credible. Is that a person you ever heard of who did the study? A statistic like this is very misleading. It doesn't include all cultural groups, only one or two group cannot represent the voice of the majority. And who said Muslims are the least trusted? I say the intelligent people are better liars and should be least trusted. Like lawyers and politicians, they are very intelligent and build their reputation by lies. They are the ones who is playing the game of hide and seek. They can hide things, truths without being found. And in this forum, you have no idea who is speaking, that person can be a Catholic, Jewish, Buddist, or Christian pretending to be an atheists.

Answer 5

The reason "atheists" lash out is the same reason most people on the internet lash out. Normal people, when given complete anonymity, don't feel inhibited, and thus speak their minds exactly the way they want to.

It's not unique to atheists, not at all. Atheists just happen to honestly think that religious believers are fools, so that's what you'll see them saying a lot of the time.

Answer 6

God vs. the Scientists

One day a group of eminent scientists got together and decided that mankind had come a long way and no longer needed God. So they picked one scientist to go and tell Him that they were done with Him.
The scientist walked up to God and said, "God, we've decided that we no longer need You. We're to the point that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don't You just retire?"

God listened very patiently to the man and then said, "Very well, but first, how about this: Let's have a Man-making contest."

To which the scientist replied, "Okay, great!" But God added, "Now, we're going to do this just like I did back in the old days with Adam."

The scientist said, "Sure, no problem" and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt.

God looked at him and said, "No, no, no You go get your own dirt!"

Answer 7

People have a lot misconceptions about atheists. And lots of nonbelievers don't claim the identity "atheist"

I would take that study with a grain of salt. People might answer differently if you phrased the questions differently.

Do you trust people who make superficial judgements about others based on labels and generalizations?

Answer 8

Atheists, immigrants and homosexuals... hmmm, I'll bet you're a conservative, aren't you?

I don't buy it. People are all different. Just because one doesn't see hell as a consequence for their actions, doesn't mean they see no consequences.

Homosexuals? Can you say "homophobic?"

Immigrants... Well, I think they're scared to death of being deported.

As for it being a trust issue, that's just ridiculous.. Kind of like your post.

Answer 9

Least trusted in what way?

I admit, it kind of makes sense. If a person goes to church every Sunday, it's safe to assume that he or she probably isn't going to steal from me or try to hurt me. Still, if that person was the crazy religious type, I wouldn't want to interact with him or her very much.

Also, I'd like to know how they define "atheist". People who have made a thoughtful decision to be atheists are, in my experience, as trustworthy as anyone religious. However, people who are atheists simply because they don't believe in anything and have never thought about it... well, who knows.

Answer 10

Being that the majority of Americans are Christian I don't find the results of that study surprising. Personally I don't find it as as anti-Atheist but instead shows the vast ignorance and bigotry of the "Moral Majority".